1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transaction cards and, more particularly, to providing multiple monetary transaction cards in a single package and enabling the multiple monetary transaction cards to be activated substantially simultaneously.
2. Description of the Related Art
Monetary transaction cards generally include smart cards, credit cards, debit cards, automatic teller machine (ATM) cards, identification (ID) cards, and pre-paid cards such as gift cards. Typically, monetary transaction cards are of a standard credit card size, or a size of a CR-80 card. The monetary transaction cards generally include a magnetic stripe which includes a number of tracks encoded thereon. Information associated with the monetary transaction cards is stored on the tracks.
Monetary transaction cards that are gift cards or other pre-paid cards are often attached to carrier cards, and displayed at retail locations. Carrier assemblies often include transaction cards that are mounted to carrier cards using an adhesive. Such carrier assemblies may include openings which enable the carrier assemblies to be hung on a rack for display purposes.
To activate a transaction card that is a part of a carrier assembly, a purchaser may remove the carrier assembly from a display rack, and bring the carrier assembly to a point-of-sale (POS). When such a purchaser wishes to purchase or otherwise obtain multiple transaction cards, he or she selects individual transaction cards which are then individually activated, e.g., using a computing system at a POS. When transaction cards are to be activated, activating the transaction card one-by-one may be inefficient.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and an apparatus for facilitating the activation of more than one transaction card using a single POS transaction. That is, what is desired is a method and an apparatus for activating multiple transaction cards substantially simultaneously and efficiently.